Archives: Locations

Less than 2 kms east of the Jordan River is one of the most important places associated with the lives of Jesus and John the Baptist (pbut), the settlement of Bethany, or Al-Maghtas in Arabic, where John lived and baptized. John 1:28 refer to it as "Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing". In [...]

This ancient town was once the capital of Jordan or Balqa region. A 30-minutes drive (approx. 33 km - 21 miles) northwest from Amman transports you back in time to a town of picturesque streets and dazzling houses from the late Ottoman period, with their characteristic long-arched windows. It's the ideal place for admiring the [...]

The magnificent Crusader fortress of Al-Karak - Crak des Moabites, or Le Pierre du Desert to Crusaders - soars above its valleys and hills like a great ship riding waves of rock. But Al-Karak's origins go back long before the Crusaders; the earliest remains are Iron Age, shortly after the Exodus, when this was a [...]

73 km (45 miles) north of Amman, and a short journey northwest from Jerash, through a beautiful pine-forest and olive groves, brings you to the town of Ajloun, where emperor Hadrian stayed over the winter of 129-30 AD, and built himself an arch well outside the town, leaving unbonded its sides for future city walls [...]

The Decapolis (meaning ten cities in Greek) was a ten-city Greco-Roman federation, or league, occupying all of Bashan and Gilead in northeastern Palestine and is mentioned three times in the New Testament. The territory was contiguous except for Damascus which some believe to have been an honorary member. Eusebius records it as the region around [...]

Umm Qais, situated 110 km (68 miles) north of Amman on a broad promontory 378 meters above sea level with a magnificent view over the Yarmouk River, the Golan Heights, and Lake Tiberias, this town was known as Gadara, one of the most brilliant ancient Greco-Roman cities of the Decapolis; and according to the Bible, [...]

Scattered throughout the black basalt desert, east of Amman, the Desert Castles stand as a testament to the flourishing beginnings of Islamic-Arab civilization. These seemingly isolated pavilions, caravan stations, secluded baths, and hunting lodges, were at one time integrated agricultural or trading complexes, built mostly under the Umayyads (661-750 AD), when Muslim Arabs had succeeded [...]

The trip south from Amman along the 5000-year-old Kings' Highway is one of the most memorable journeys in the Holy Land, passing through a string of ancient sites. The first city you come upon is Madaba, "The City of Mosaics". In many respects Madaba is a typical East Bank town which differs in one major [...]

When fantasy, sun and sea meet the charms and atmosphere of antiquity, the visitor can find himself, at any time of the year, at the 13th century Red Sea resort of Aqaba, which was in ancient times, the main port for shipments from the Red Sea to the Far East, known by the names of [...]

Jerash, located 48 km north of Amman and nestled in a quiet valley among the mountains of Gilead, is the grandeur of Imperial Rome being one of the largest and most well preserved sites of Roman architecture in the World outside Italy. To this day, its paved and colonnaded streets, soaring hilltop temples, handsome theaters, [...]